22 July, 2018
The weather was very cooperative so the meeting was held outside. Seven members braved the heat and after much talk about lots of stuff nothing was accomplished.
Sam brought several models, a set 9 MeccanoGraph, an excavator, an army set halftrack, a dump truck, a tow truck and a bag of pretzels. I (Wayne) had an assortment of ideas I've been tinkering with. The pictures here do not show well but better pictures will eventually be posted on my page.
Dugan brought his version of the 'Odd number of meshing gears' discussion on Spanner. He built the Mobius strip out of flexible perforated strips, threaded pins were bolted to the Mobius as axles for the MPG (multipurpose gears). The problem is that the flexible strips aren't rigid enough to keep the axles at a consistent angle. As a result the gears on the outside of the strip do not engage and the gears on the inside bind. I believe it can be made to work but only after way to much fiddling.
For me the highlight of the day was Dugan's version of a Hoberman sphere he found at the Goodwill. All the gruesome details of its design and stages of the build were presented. See the picture below.
Sam brought several models, a set 9 MeccanoGraph, an excavator, an army set halftrack, a dump truck, a tow truck and a bag of pretzels. I (Wayne) had an assortment of ideas I've been tinkering with. The pictures here do not show well but better pictures will eventually be posted on my page.
Dugan brought his version of the 'Odd number of meshing gears' discussion on Spanner. He built the Mobius strip out of flexible perforated strips, threaded pins were bolted to the Mobius as axles for the MPG (multipurpose gears). The problem is that the flexible strips aren't rigid enough to keep the axles at a consistent angle. As a result the gears on the outside of the strip do not engage and the gears on the inside bind. I believe it can be made to work but only after way to much fiddling.
For me the highlight of the day was Dugan's version of a Hoberman sphere he found at the Goodwill. All the gruesome details of its design and stages of the build were presented. See the picture below.
